Once Upon an Island-Ready-Review-RomCom-Available Now

I was predisposed to enjoy Once Upon an Island, a new from com from Sarah Ready, solely for the location alone.

Who doesn’t love a book set in the Caribbean?

Add that it is a re-telling of Pride and Prejudice, and I knew I was in for a treat.

I wasn’t wrong.

From the first scene where Isla misunderstands a theme brunch to the close (that I’m not going to give away), I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

The author did a great job of making each of the characters unique, while still allowing the parallels to Jane Austen’s characters. If you’ve read Pride and Prejudice, you’ll understand this.

But even if you haven’t, it is a thoroughly enjoyable rom com in its own right.

Honestly, there is not a lot to delve into. It was just charming and fun to read. The tension is good, the characters are well-enough developed that they feel real, but without having to go too deep into psyches or anything heavy.

It’s just nice and light.

Sometimes that is absolutely enough.

I didn’t read Sarah Ready’s debut novel, but I certainly will now.

You can’t get a much better beach read than Once Upon an Island.

The Daughters-Crouch-Review-Psych Thriller-Available Now

Hoo boy, is there a lot to unpack in The Daughters, a chilling psych thriller from Julia Crouch.

I’m not even sure where to start.

I guess I should have had an inkling about the mental states of both Sara and Lucy from the very first chapter. But the author does a great job of not giving away too much. Just enough to make the reader question backstory.

And there is a lot of backstory.

As always, you can get the gist of it from the blurb but suffice to say that Sara and Lucy’s mom allegedly committed suicide years prior. And that is questionable for more than a few reasons.

Actually, as I am writing this, I realize that none of the characters are particularly trustworthy in their perspectives. Sara is bitter. Lucy is a broken toy. And Carys is too good to be true.

In fact, Carys got on my nerves from the beginning. I’m not sure if that is the author’s intent, but she truly was too much of a do-gooder to believe that she didn’t have ulterior motives about…well, anything.

I’m not telling you if my instinct was right, but let’s just say that it is a good psych thriller partially because of how her true character is revealed.

Additionally, however, she was difficult to root for because it just felt like she was more caricature than character. Like she was too good for anything. Again, I think that is by design. But I was totally with Sara not liking her.

I really felt for Sara and Lucy, especially the latter. She is obviously so damaged for some reason (that is revealed in the book) that it is easy to see how past traumas can affect present mental health. So, there is another “psych” angle to the psych thriller.

Given recent events in the real world, this is something that truly struck home with me.

But this isn’t about that.

I liked how the author made me question pretty much everyone’s perspectives and I liked being off-balance as to who was trustworthy. The reveals come about at just the right time in the book. The plot progresses at a good pace.

I actually stayed up late reading this one. And that rarely happens.

I enjoyed The New Mother by Julia Crouch, and The Daughters is another good psych thriller that should go on your list.

Facebook: JuliaCrouchAuthor
Twitter: thatjuliacrouch
Instagram: juliageek

Author Bio:

Julia started off as a theatre director and playwright. While her children were growing up, she swerved into graphic design. After writing and illustrating two children’s books for an MA, she discovered that her great love was writing prose. The picture books were deemed too dark for publication, so, to save the children, she turned instead to writing for adults. Her first book, Cuckoo, was published in 2011, and she has been writing what she calls her Domestic Noir novels ever since. She also writes for TV and teaches on the Crime Writing MA at the University of East Anglia. She has three grown up children and lives in Brighton with her husband and two cats, Keith and Sandra.

The Wrong Girl-Kirby-Review-Psych Thriller-Available Now

The Wrong Girl by Robert W. Kirby is an ambitious psych thriller that takes concentration to really understand.

Simply put, there is a LOT going on in this book.

The blurb gives a succinct background: Alex has nightmares and calls out Sheryl’s name. But his wife’s name is Natalie. So, who is Sheryl, and why does she haunt Alex?

It’s a good premise and the author does an admirable job fully building the story by telling it from multiple points of view. The reader gets a holistic look at the events.

However, that also is part of my issue with the book, because there are SO many points of view to understand and (unless I missed it) no real delineation to let the reader know where the info is coming from.

There were times that I was halfway through a chapter before I realized that it was someone different from the previous chapter.

The amount of flashback used to flesh out Alex’s past didn’t bother me. I like when an author lets the reader see things actively, instead of just having characters talk about past events passively.

It is also good that the reader gets to see Alex’s group of friends both as they were and in their current lives. Another way the author rounds out the story with good detail.

Buy Links
Amazon UK –  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wrong-Girl-gripping-psychological-thriller-ebook/dp/B09ZVNGC2K
Amazon US –  https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Girl-gripping-psychological-thriller-ebook/dp/B09ZVNGC2K

I’m sure there are some readers who may take issue with the “laddish fun” and group-speak the old friends use to communicate. In the U.S., we would call it a “good ol’ boy” vibe. They didn’t bother me either, but I could see where it could be a bit much.

A reader could try to read The Wrong Girl while distracted, but they may struggle. As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, concentration is needed to really understand everything. That is largely due to the multiple points of view and the complexity of the friend group.

After a slow start (push through that as well) the author does pick up the pace. Oddly, the complexity of the backstory gets easier to follow. I don’t mean to repeat myself, but you really do need to focus on this one.

If you do, you should find it to be quite a satisfying psych thriller.

Facebook : Robertkirbybooks
Instagram : robertkirby.books/

Author Bio
Robert was born in 1979 and lives in Kent with his wife, children, and bonkers dalmatian, Dexter. He ran a private investigation agency for over fifteen years, dealing in cases that involved breach of contract claims, commercial debt recovery, and process serving. Robert’s agency also specialised in people tracing; so much of his work revolved around tracking down debtors, dealing in adoption matters, and locating missing persons. At times, he worked on some pretty
bizarre cases and dealt with plenty of interesting and sometimes colourful individuals.

Since 2014, Robert has worked self-employed in the pet care industry, and is a keen trail runner, mountain biker and kayaker. Robert has a huge passion for screenwriting for many years and started writing novels during the first lockdown.

The Wrong Girl is his first psychological thriller with Inkubator Books.

close

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)